Editorial

Before reporting on what can be expected in this first edition of 2017,
the good news about the journal must first be shared. Yesterday&Today is
now rated among the top five journals in terms of the average amount of
document views the journal has in the SciELO SA collection! It is indeed a
big achievement and a credit to everyone – from the Editorial Board to each
author who contributed over the years.

This issue of Yesterday&Today contains a healthy variety of articles: Seven
articles in the scientific research section and two in the hands-on section,
followed by two book reviews. The themes of the articles incorporated in this
issue, are:.

The effect of multimedia use on the teaching and learning of Social Sciences
at tertiary level: A case study (Luiza de Sousa, Barry Richter and Carisma Nel);

The impact of social media on History education: A view from England (Terry Haydn);

Student protest and the culture of violence at African universities: An inherited
ideological trait (Kehdinga Fomunyam);

“Word Generation” and skills around learning and teaching History (Sarah
Godsell);

Underperformance in Social Studies in Grades 5–7 in Namibian primary
schools: A case study (Arend Carl and Theopolina Negumbo);

Contemporary relevance – A category of historical science and of the didactics
of History and its consequences in teacher training (Elisabeth Erdmann);

Nostalgia, memory and History teaching and learning (Barry Firth);

Crossing the “chalkboard-keyboard-divide” on a shoestring budget (Rika
Odendaal);

In the first article, entitled The effect of multimedia use on the teaching and
learning of Social Sciences at tertiary level: A case study, Luiza de Sousa, Barry
Richter and Carisma Nel report on which forms of multimedia combinations
are best for the teaching and learning of specific Social Sciences content. By
applying a quasi-experimental research design, they examined how exposure
to different multimedia combinations on digital videodisc (DVD) may affect
the achievement of Social Sciences trainee teachers. The authors come to
the conclusion that the nature of the theme and the outcomes assessed are
important factors in determining what the multimedia structure and format
should look like on DVD when teaching and learning at tertiary level. The
study further shows that by utilising multimedia, different teaching and
learning styles were applied, helping the pre-service teachers to construct
their own knowledge and thereby making the learning experience in Social
Sciences more meaningful.

Terry Haydn in his article, The impact of social media on History education:
A view from England, examines recent ideas and developments with regard
to utilising new technology in History education. Haydn raises the question
as to what it means “to be good at ICT” as a History teacher and what the
priorities should be when History teachers are trained. He is convinced that
a revolution has taken place during the past decade in the way people receive
information on social media platforms about “the news” and about “the past”.
He contends that people’s views and convictions have been influenced by
“fake news” and falsehoods in what have recently been described as a “posttruth”
society. Haydn then rightly asks: What are the implications for History
teachers of these developments in new technology and social media and how –
if at all – will they influence the teaching and learning of History in a different
way? The author concludes that less attention should be given to the general
technological competence of History teachers and greater emphasis placed
on training teachers to help their learners to be able to “filter” information
from digital sources. Only when developing skills on information literacy will
teachers be able to make judgements on the reliability and trustworthiness of
information on social media platforms.

In his contribution, Student protest and the culture of violence at African
universities: An inherited ideological trait, Kehdinga Fomunyam examines
student protest in the five regions of North, South, East, Central and West
Africa, covering more than 20 different nations. He points out that this is
not a new phenomenon in Africa and elsewhere, and that although student
protests were triggered by various reasons in the different countries, they
have all become violent. Fomunyam argues that students in Africa have
inherited the culture of violence demonstrated during their struggle against
colonialism. Even though colonialism came to an “end’, the culture of
violence is increasingly manifesting itself across the African continent. The
author concludes by arguing that because the culture of student violence is an
inherited one, the process will continue to manifest itself if urgent steps are
not taken that will guarantee transformation and decolonisation.

In Sarah Godsell’s article, “Word Generation” and skills around learning
and teaching History, she reports and illustrates how the sub-program of
WorldGen (pioneered in 2006 by the Harvard University Education School)
that is specifically designed for social sciences (SoGen), can be engaged as
a basis to create materials for the teaching and learning of History in the
South African intermediate classroom. WorldGen holds the advantage that it
affords the possibility for learners to expand their vocabulary, critical thinking
skills (such as historical enquiry and perspective taking) and factual content
through discussion and debate. By utilising SoGen material Godsell creatively
explores the possibility of translating this material for tertiary teacher training
in the Intermediate Phase. The article reflects third-year education students’
responses to the WorldGen material. She argues that the application of
WorldGen material facilitates the manner in which learners think about
History. This allows student teachers to interact with historical knowledge and
to conduct historical research while at the same time being able to consider
their methodology when teaching the subject.

In the article by Arend Carl and Theopolina Negumbo, entitled
Underperformance in Social Studies in Grades 5-7 in Namibian primary schools:
A case study, the focus is on possible factors that may contribute to learners’
underperformance. In their empirical research, the authors used different data
collection methods to ensure its validity and reliability. Carl and Negumbo
found that there are a number of factors that constitute obstacles and inhibit
learners’ performance. Some of these factors are: English as the medium of
instruction; the policy of automatic transfer to the next grade despite the fact
that learners did not meet the grade’s pass requirement; untrained teachers;
principals not monitoring the teaching and learning process and lack of inservice
training opportunities for teachers. The authors conclude by making
recommendations to address these issues.

In their article, entitled Learners’ encounter with archaeological fieldwork:
A public participation archaeology account of the East Fort Archaeological
Project, Anton van Vollenhoven, Karin Scott and Mariette Harcombe claim
that the practice of archaeological activities seldom extends towards public
participation. By means of the East Fort Archaeological Project that started
in 2013 they provide an opportunity for the public as well as for school
learners to become actively involved in an archaeology project, regardless of
their skills level. By including high school learners, the authors are addressing
and strengthening the section on heritage that forms an important part of
the History school curriculum. While experiencing practical archaeological
field work the learners are exposed to real, tangible history, which not only
makes them aware of heritage and history but also the importance of it
being conserved. The authors conclude by suggesting that History teachers
should become involved in similar projects for History to be taken out of the
textbooks and in the process it will serve as the first step in creating a heritageliterate
society.

In her article, entitled Contemporary relevance – a category of historical science
and of the didactics of history and its consequences in teacher training, the ever
green Elisabeth Erdmann discusses the important role of contemporary
relevance in the teaching and learning of History. By creating a context
between present and past, Erdmann claims it will contribute to orientation
knowledge which will enable learners to reflect on solutions to present-day
issues. In the process, the learners will develop future perspectives by thinking
creatively of alternatives that will revise habitual contemporary thoughts and
thinking patterns. Selected examples, such as the conflict between the Arabs
and Israelis in the Middle East, are discussed for contemporary relevance
in History teaching and learning, and the consequences they constitute for
History teacher training.

In the article in the hands-on section, entitled Nostalgia, memory and History
teaching and learning, Barry Firth explores the use of nostalgic writing by preservice
teachers in an attempt to define their space or “twilight zone”, in which
positions have to be reflected and negotiated as a result of a compromised gaze.
Drawing on Boym’s restorative and reflective nostalgia theory, Firth reports
his findings after having requested his students to use nostalgic writing as an
extreme form of subjective memory.

In her article, entitled Crossing the “chalkboard-keyboard-divide” on a
shoestring budget, Rika Odendaal focuses on creative ways in which History
teachers can use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) where
it is limited in schools. She argues that there should be no excuse for History
teachers not to include technology in their teaching and learning from time
to time. She expertly shows how the cell phone can be used in class as well as
the Classmarker programme, which she finds useful in assessing the learners’
basic content knowledge and the interpretation of sources without the effort
of having to mark it.
Apart from the above contributions, included in this issue are also two
interesting and thought-provoking book reviews with a South African
context. The book reviews were written by Jugathambal Ramdhani (Poverty
in South Africa: Past and Present) and Simphiwe Ngwane (The Art of Life in
South Africa).

Finally, milestone information is provided regarding the South African
Society for History Teaching (SASHT) that will act as host for the
International Society for History Didactics (ISHD) conference to be held at
the Riverside Sun Hotel in Vanderbijlpark from 13-15 September 2017. The
draft programme for the conference is also included, as well as the minute of
the 2016 Annual general meeting and the most updated SASHT constitution
for the perusal of members during the 2017 conference.

Odendaal, Rika(The South African Society for History Teaching (SASHT) under the auspices of the School of Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2017)

This article focusses on creative ways that history teachers can use technology in their classroom especially where resources are limited. Ideas are shared on how to make the teaching and learning process fun and how to ...

Firth, Barry William(The South African Society for History Teaching (SASHT) under the auspices of the School of Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2017)

“… there is a twilight zone between history and memory; between the past as a generalized record which is open to relatively dispassionate inspection and the past as a remembered part of, or background to, one’s own life” ...

Erdmann, Elisabeth(The South African Society for History Teaching (SASHT) under the auspices of the School of Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2017)

Contemporary relevance as a category of the didactics of history teaching includes not only historical facts which might be deemed the causes of present-day problems and circumstances but also those which, on the grounds ...

Van Vollenhoven, Anton C.; Scott, Karin; Harcombe, Mariette(The South African Society for History Teaching (SASHT) under the auspices of the School of Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2017)

Public Archaeology as a concept is generally defined as civic involvement during the various public phases of Cultural Resources Management. The practice of archaeology in South Africa seldom extends towards public ...

Carl, Arend E.; Negumbo, Theopolina A.N.(The South African Society for History Teaching (SASHT) under the auspices of the School of Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2017)

This article focuses on the challenges of learners’ underperformance in Social Studies in Namibia. The study investigated the possible factors that may contribute to learners’ underperformance in Social Studies in the ...

Godsell, Sarah(The South African Society for History Teaching (SASHT) under the auspices of the School of Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2017)

The Word Generation Programme (WordGen), produced by Harvard University Education School in 2006, presents ways of engaging with and improving literacy skills in school going students. WordGen comprises a set of freely ...

Fomunyam, Kehdinga George(The South African Society for History Teaching (SASHT) under the auspices of the School of Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2017)

Since the advent of independence in African countries, education generally focused on transforming these nations and redressing the ills of colonialism. Education in countries like Ghana, and Kenya, amongst others aimed ...

Haydn, Terry(The South African Society for History Teaching (SASHT) under the auspices of the School of Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2017)

The paper examines recent ideas about the use of new technology in History education, contrasting the ideas of policy makers, initial teacher education curriculum specifications, and expert practitioners in the field of ...

De Sousa, Luiza; Richter, Barry; Nel, Carisma(The South African Society for History Teaching (SASHT) under the auspices of the School of Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2017)

Instructors in higher education are under pressure to provide their students with more effective and efficient learning environments and educational experiences. Instructional systems and educational technology have been ...